2013-03-26

My Darling is a Foreigner

My Darling is a Foreigner (ダーリンは外国人) is a movie adaptation of Oguri Saori's manga depicting her life with her foreigner husband, Tony Laszlo. It was released in 2010 and The Japan Times rated it 2.5 out of 5. Other sites have not been quite so kind in their ratings.The film is about the budding relationship between aspiring manga artist Saori and her American boyfriend Tony, who lives in Tokyo. Their romance is an awkward one - Tony seems to have a fairly solid grasp of the Japanese language but is utterly clueless about Japanese culture. He commits many a faux pas, much to the amusement of Saori, who's cast him as her muse in her manga series. More tension arises when Tony is finally introduced to Saori's family - her mother adores him immediately but her father isn't so keen on a foreigner in the family. In her struggle not to hurt Tony's feelings (and consequently keeping him in the dark about her father's lack of approval) she ends up alienating him and put their entire life together in jeopardy. In the end though, as all romantic comedies go, Saori manages to save her relationship with Tony and they get married. That's were the film ends, but according to wikipedia there's much more depicted in the manga. As it has been released in English now, I might attempt to dig up a copy and read it for myself!Despite the misgivings a lot of people (Japanese and American) had about this film, I still think it's a very cute look at intercultural couples, especially between an American and a Japanese. It brings to light a lot of the differences in each culture and the struggle to overcome not only cultural boundaries but language barriers as well. I enjoyed this film, and if you're looking for a light-hearted romantic comedy, this might be right up your alley!